A good night's sleep
by Busby-Lizzy
Summary: Merlin's eyes were completely unfocused as if he was asleep. And he was swaying from left to right. Then suddenly he fell to the ground with a loud smack, every eye turning on his seemingly lifeless body. Not even a second later Merlin stood rigid, "I'm awake!" After all his hard work all Merlin wants to do is sleep. But being Arthur's servant is a 24 hours job.


A good night's sleep

Merlin's eyes were completely unfocused as if he was asleep. And he was swaying from left to right. Then suddenly he fell to the ground with a loud smack, every eye turning on his seemingly lifeless body. Not even a second later Merlin stood rigid, "I'm awake!" After all his hard work all Merlin wants to do is sleep. But being Arthur's servant is a 24 hours job.

"I'd rather eat horse dung than do all this... Slave work." Merlin muttered to himself while walking down the stairs and trying to balance all of Arthur's armour in his arms. And bloody hell that man had a lot of weapons that needed to get polished. All Merlin wanted to do was tell Arthur to do it himself, but that would probably earn him a trip to the stocks and then he would still have to polish the weaponry.

Merlin sighed loudly again, if he knew from the start that working for the royal prat would be such a pain, then he wouldn't have rescued him.

And since he was already in this line of thought, he did save Arthur countless times but did he get any thanks? No, he only got scolded for being a useless idiot all the time. Merlin wasn't an idiot, well, he did have his less bright moments, but for a strange coincidence he'd always have them with Arthur. The other apparently activated that side of him.

"Good morning, Merlin." Gwen cheerfully greeted him on her way to Morgana's room. Since he didn't expect the sudden noise, he jumped up and dropped the heavy weapons on the red carpets covering the floor.

He groaned loudly and Gwen quickly tried to form some sort of apology, but Merlin stopped her with his hand. "It isn't your fault, Gwen. I'm just not really at my best today." He sighed again, he had been doing this countless times today and it was only morning.

When he finally arrived at his destination he sat down, catching his breath. He made a mental note to work on his stamina. He looked at the weapons and tried to burn them with his eyes, after realizing he probably had the powers to do that, he figured out something else. He had powers to do the work for him. He looked around and quickly murmured an incantation and he felt his eyes glow gold. The armour shone without him having to lift a finger. His next task was to go to Gaius to see what the old man needed. Since he was aging with the day, Gaius barely made it to lower town and not to speak about finding flowers or spices in the woods.

Gaius noticed just how soon Merlin stood in Gaius' quarters. If he realized Merlin used magic to do his tasks, he didn't say anything about it. Gaius knew just how heavy the burden on Merlin's shoulders was.

Mere days ago, there was a nest of siren reported terrorizing neighboring villages close to the river. With every knight including Arthur under the sirens' love spell, Merlin had to fight them on his own. The sirens that looked beautiful in the others' eyes, were vile creatures in reality and they made nasty marks in his skin with their long claw-like fingernails. And their teeth were sharp enough to rip pieces of skin off.

Merlin didn't even remember how he defeated them but he did remember how much he wanted to sleep for days. Instead of doing that he used a lot of his magic to wake the defenseless knights and prince and he drained out the last of his powers by healing himself. When he finally was slipping in unconsciousness, Arthur woke him anything but gently.

And while he still needed to recover from his wounds, Merlin was already working his ass off the next day. Arthur gave him a workload that he could not under any circumstances finish during the day. And then the sleepless nights came. He couldn't possibly do all of his work for Arthur and Gaius with magic, simply because once it's drained… it's drained. And he would need some good night's sleep to be on full strength again.

Gaius didn't want to bother Merlin with more work, but if he went out in the forest to pick out ingredients for healing potions, he would hurt his backside even more.

Merlin crossed paths with Arthur on his way out. "Is my armour polished and shining?" No greeting, no formalities, just a curt question. Merlin nodded, he really wanted to finish his duties before nightfall tonight. "Then why aren't they back where they are supposed to be?" Before Merlin could utter an excuse, Arthur cut him off. "Just make sure they'll get in my room somehow."

Arthur planned to walk away but he stopped a second. "Oh, I almost forgot. Merlin this afternoon the court wants to gather. I need you to be there to stand on the side with the other servants." He paused and gave Merlin a hard look. "The court will not tolerate any indecent behavior and whatever wrongs you do; it will come back to me." Merlin nodded again, only half listening to Arthur's rant, wasn't it always the same? Merlin walked away and behind him he heard Arthur give him one last threat. "And you won't come late, am I clear?"

Merlin was going to be killed by Arthur, he was sure of it. Not only was he too late for the court meeting but his clothes would be considered indecent. But as always, he could explain.

When he was walking in the forest, he heard voices from behind the bushes. Merlin stepped closer, trying to not get noticed. Two men, one bald; the other with a long scar on his face, were planning the king's demise. Of course Merlin could not let that happen, but instead of running to safety where he could find knights to inform them, Merlin decided to face them, alone.

He was beaten up, punched in his stomach, thrown to the ground, his clothes and his skin was cut open by the dagger-wielding thug. But in the end he used his magic to send them into… well, just nothingness.

Panic surged through him when he realized the time, washing away the fatigue. He ran all the way back to the castle and when in front of the court room, he took his time to catch his breath and calm his nerves. Arthur was going to kill him with a glare, no doubt about it.

He opened the door with a sheepish smile and quickly ran to where he was supposed to stand. He saw Gwen give him a worried look as she took in Merlin's beaten form. He looked at Arthur and just as he predicted, the man was fuming. He wanted to hide in the shadows of the room; Arthur looked like he was ready to have his head.

But as the gathering continued on, fatigue hit him hard. These past days had been a living hell. All he wanted was a little rest, but because of his royal prat he didn't have the change to sleep. Or to doze off, a nice dream about a beautiful green meadow, just himself and nature. Merlin felt himself swaying with the flow of the wind. And just before he hit something hard, he noticed he was dreaming and falling.

Arthur noticed immediately, he had his eyes on the man speaking but Merlin was also in his line of sight. Merlin's eyes were completely unfocused as if he was asleep. And he was swaying from left to right. Then suddenly he fell to the ground with a loud smack, every eye turning on his seemingly lifeless body. Not even a second later Merlin stood rigid, "I'm awake!" Arthur wanted to smack the life out of his manservant. But then he noticed the large bags under Merlin's eyes. The ripped clothes stained with blood. Merlin was hurt and tired and would have to stand in this room for more than three hours. Suddenly he felt an emotion close to pity and, dare he say, guilt filling him. Because he just knew he was the reason for Merlin's fatigue. Again a wave of emotions hit him, now it was embarrassment, how did he not notice Merlin's need for sleep before?

Merlin wanted to run and hide, but he barely had enough strength to stand on his legs. Once this long gathering was over, Arthur would punish him. Merlin knew an angry, preaching Arthur would await him, or maybe worse… the stocks.

And then the dreaded moment came. Everyone left the big hall and when Merlin walked out of the door, he felt a hand grasping his shoulder almost painfully. "You're coming with me." Arthur said and led the way to his room.

Arthur closed the door with a loud bang and crossed his arms. Merlin didn't know where to stand or where to look; knowing Arthur was following his every move. "Uh… I'm sorry?" Merlin started, he truly hated uncomfortable silences.

"You are sorry? Do you know how you made me look with your foolish behavior?" Arthur said and took a step away from the door, closer to Merlin. Merlin didn't know what to say, saying he was just tired seemed like a stupid excuse. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Arthur asked, still pissed off.

Merlin was confused, normally Arthur would yell at him to shut up but today he asked him to talk? "I-I still have to get your amour from…" Merlin cursed inwardly when he stuttered, but was more confused when Arthur silenced him with the words; "Just go to sleep, Merlin."

Arthur pushed Merlin towards his bed and Merlin frowned at him. "Arthur, this is your bed. I can go downstairs." Arthur rolled his eyes at him. "Are you sure about that, because you can't even stand straight without falling."

Merlin made himself comfortable in Arthur's bed, well as comfortable he could get with the man staring at him like that, and then he noticed something. "But, where are you going to sleep then?" He asked and yawned.

His half-asleep mind processed what happened only seconds later, but it was already too late. Arthur had lifted the blankets and lay down beside Merlin. Merlin backed away as far as he possibly could and he felt his face heat up. "Wh-at are you do-ing?" Merlin half asked, half shrieked when Arthur came closer.

Arthur smirked smugly and laughed; "Don't be such a girl, Merlin. I'm not making any advances towards you." Merlin calmed himself, until he saw Arthur's smirk. "Unless you want me to." His voice had a deep, soft and sultry sound that made Merlin's heart beat wildly. He let out an incomprehensible groan and turned his body away from Arthur's.

He hid his scarlet cheeks, why couldn't Arthur just leave him alone? Did the other know he was too tired to try to win a fight, because if he did then he was just plain evil. Merlin felt Arthur creeping up on him, but he didn't dare to look. And right at the moment he expected something, Arthur did something that his sleep-deprived mind could not comprehend. With his arms around Merlin's shoulders and one leg draped over Merlin's hip, Arthur made himself comfortable.

Arthur decided to play with Merlin some more and trailed his leg up and down Merlin's hip. Merlin hid his flushed face as Arthur chuckled in his ear. "Your heart is beating fast." Merlin could feel his heart thumping against his ribcage even harder. "Very fast."

"This means nothing you prat! I can't argue with you right now, but I will get back at you for this." Arthur laughed some more, his hot breath hitting the back of Merlin's neck. The latter let out a small whimper.

"You are in love with me." Arthur stated as a matter of fact, he also knew from the way he acted himself, he was in love with Merlin too.

Merlin still denied it.

"I'm just sleepy."


End file.
